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Product Design Process
The Product Design Process (PDP) is a technique used by engineers to efficiently design a product and push it to market. It is essentially a road-map to engineering design. Dieter, George E., and Linda C. Schmidt. Engineering Design. 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print. Phases of the PDP Conceptual Design The conceptual design phase is the first of the three major design phases of the product design process. This phase involves market research, design ideation, and preliminary modeling. Define the Problem Often overlooked by engineering students, this is an essential part of the design process. Before attempting to generate concepts, market research needs to be performed to find whether or not there is a demand for the product. During this step, engineers should develop a clear problem statement. The problem statement should address the following questions: "The Engineering Design Process." Science Buddies, n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2014. # What exactly will this product do? # Who needs this product? # Why ''do they need this product? A tool that greatly helps in creating the problem statement is creating a House of Quality. Once a comprehensive problem statement is created, preliminary research can be performed. Gather Information During this step, an engineering team will perform background research that may be pertinent to their problem statement. A team should check for relevant patents, search the internet for existing designs, and hire consultants if they have the financial means to do so. Thorough research can spare engineers from frustration later on in the design process. Concept Generation This is the most creative stage of the PDP. Engineers should come up with a variety of concepts that would solve the concern addressed in the problem statement. This stage should include plenty of brainstorming and design ideation. The key to succeeding during this stage is to come up with a multitude of concepts. The engineering team will pick the best design during the next step. Evaluate and Select Concept This step is where the design team will establish specific criteria to evaluate each concept. Setting up a Pugh Chart can be helpful during this phase. At the end of this step, the design team should have selected the best generated concept and will proceed to the following phase of the PDP. It is important to note that it is very cost-effective to eliminate concepts before the prototyping phase. '''Embodiment Design' The embodiment design phase is the intermediate of the three major design phases of the product design process. This phase involves diligent engineering and computer-based evaluation of the concept selected during the conceptual design phase. Product Architecture During this step, the design team should decide how the product will be arranged. More specifically, the focus of this step is to determine how each component of the product will be integrated within the overall product design. For example, the switch of a rotary saw could be held in place by specialized indentations in the handle housing, or it could be secured with machine screws. At the end of this step, the engineering team should have a general idea of how the product will be manufactured and assembled. Configuration Design At this point in the design process, the concept chosen during previous steps should be taking shape. There should be a focus on selecting materials for all components of the product. Materials should be evaluated based on cost, availability, and whether or not it will fulfill the component's requirements. Once the materials are selected, the design team should begin modeling the product. Computer-based modeling has become increasingly popular due to computer-aided design (CAD) software having integrated simulation features. Creating an accurate model will allow the team to run various simulations before spending any money building and testing prototypes. Parametric Design This step is the final portion of the embodiment design phase. The engineering team should focus on altering components to make manufacturing cheaper and assembly simpler. Additionally, tolerances for product dimensions need to be set. A stack-up analysis should be used to verify important dimensions. Detail Design The detail design phase is the final phase of the product design process. This is the step in which a selected prototype is rigorously tested, finalized, and made ready for production. This final phase focuses on producing and finalizing engineering drawings. Drawings should be clear and annotated, so that suppliers can understand the instructions when fabricating or assembling parts. Also, the product specifications will be finalized during this stage. Physical prototypes will be rigorously tested. Products will be tested to failure and analyzed, and the engineering team should verify that the product solves the issue described in the problem statement in a safe, and predictable manner. Once the prototype is verified and tested, it will be readied for mass-production and distribution. Advantages of the PDP * Structured design of the PDP can help guide engineers throughout the entirety of the design process * Using a structured design can help streamline the design process * The PDP is structured to maximize concept evaluation and minimize backtracking * Less backtracking will save money Disadvantages of the PDP * The PDP is thorough, so it is inherently slow * Competitors may beat your team to be first-to-market * Computer software needs more diverse testing than the PDP can offer. The software development cycle should have a wider audience when testing than the PDP can offer. Sassenburg, Hans. "A Methodology to Support Software Release Decisions." Methods & Tools, 2007. Web. 25 Nov. 2014. References